Bedsole - NCGenWeb

Genealogy Library, I obtained a copy of the Certificate For Country Of Origin for Bedsole. It states that
Germany is the country of origin. Actually its Prussia, but why quibble when at least most of Prussia became
Germany ?. I flew to Germany twice to research the Betzold name. First, in 1993 and again in1994, to see
for myself. Parts of Germany were called Prussia and Allemandia and perhaps other things prior to becoming
Germany and without proof, we must assume the Bedsole name actually originated some time prior to
"Germany". I received the following from cousin Charles Bedsole, an attorney in Dallas,Texas, who kindly
gave his permission to include it in this book. What Charles says is very interesting and quite true. In
addition, it shows that our roots are in Germany and I'm sorry to say that, because I do not admire Germany
for the Holocaust, among other things. This is what Charles said in response to my question about whether
"Bedsole" and "Bledsoe" could be related ; "One thing I find interesting is the early date of the Bletsoe name
in the year1086 (That really is 1086) in England. According to some of the first English Court Cases,
apparently a community named "Bledsoe" was there before William the Conqueror brought his army from
Normandy; and, if so, it would make Bletsoe an Anglo-Saxon community. Further, if it was Anglo-Saxon, that
would give Bletsoe a German connection because the Angles and the Saxons both emigrated to England
from Germany. It was the Angles in fact, who gave us the name "England" ("Angle Land" was over time,
shortened to England).The Anglo-Saxon folks were Germanic, while the people that emigrated when William
conquered England were former Vikings from Scandinavia who had settled in France. They were initially
called "Norse Men" (Northmen) and the area of France where they settled became "Normandy" (the land of
the Northmen). However, being from Scandinavia, they spoke a version of German and were out of the same
tree as the Germanic tribes who settled in what became modern day Germany (previously "Allemandia").
The Bletsoe family name, in theory, could have been an Anglicanization of an earlier Germanic name, e.g.,
Bletzold or Betzold". Many thanks to Charles for that information. At this point I won't even try to define the
relationship of Bedsole and Bledsoe, further than that. But I do define it near the end of this book. In the
same email, Charles was kind enough to send me the internet address of the first english court records. In
reviewing several of those cases, I came across one wherein Elizabeth Bletsoe was a witness in a rape trial,
dated in the year 1061, in England. I also noted that she lived in a "Bledsoe Community". The surname
Bledsoe, although claimed by the Bledsoe researchers, to have originated in England, actually originated in
the same place as Bedsole did, and as noted elsewhere, at some time in the past, there is no doubt in my
mind that we,the Bedsoles, Bedsauls and Bledsoes, et al, all share a common ancestor at some time and
place in the past. That place is most likely to have been Prussia. In researching your family name, you learn
to arrive at conclusions, based on several factors. As the old saying goes, "If it walks like a duck, quacks like
a duck, looks and acts like a duck, then its most likely a duck". Similiarly in looking for the Bedsoles prior to
1950 or so, and you find a man with the name, if the man had roughly the right name, was at the right place,
was there at the right time, and had certain relatives and/or dates, then its most likely him. In genealogical
research, especially in the time prior to 1900 in the U.S., the most likely method becomes a method of proof,
in the total absence of any documentation. As I said elsewhere, the accuracy of the Bedsole List, in Part Two,
much of which was and is, based on Most Likely, has been proven time and time again to be amazingly
accurate, with few exceptions. That may surprise you, but knowing how I made determinations from all the
research that went into it, its accuracy does not surprise me at all. However, I hasten to add that accurately
determining who is kin to whom and how they are kin, without birth, marriage, death, and other records, no
one to ask anything about it, and doing it 300 years later, is definitely not easy.
In Germany, the Brandenburg district was Prussian land. It is from that district that the Betzolds seemed to
originate. Germany is divided into States (Länder). These states are subdivided into Landkreise or Rural
districts, which are made up of municipalities (Gemeinden) and Kreisfreie Städte, or free urban districts. In
some states municipalities are combined into Ämter and Grossgemeinden (larger bodies, but the individual
municipalities still exist).
Arrival Of The First Bedsole